Blocked Websites at Work

[Dion]

http://www.anonymization.net/

[photon]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

just curious. what are the capabilities of big brother watching over us? Is the IT dept (theoretically) capable of knowing ever webpage we view, or every e-mail we send?

The capabilities are there. If they do it, should be an explicit part of your employment agreement that they do so though?

In one company I worked at we had software installed on all computers that logged all emails, chat sessions, etc.. and took periodic screenshots of the screen throughout the day and archived all that info. We never used any of the info, but it was there. We also told the employees that it was being done.

It can also be logged on firewalls and email servers.

[MoneyGuy]

I operate a small business and know people who spend (I'm guessing here but am probably not too far off) literally hours a day playing around on websites and wasting (stealing?) their employers' time. I'm not judging any of you because I don't know your situations, but consider this from the employer's point of view. My staff computers are not blocked because I know what they're used for but I do understand why some employers do block some website access.

Say an employer has 50 employees who spend an average of even 30 minutes on line per day on non-company stuff (Facebook, this site, etc.). At $40 an hour that's the lost-productivity cost is a quarter million a year. It's expensive, guys. Is it right?

(Yes, I did post this during the workday, but remember that I am the employer. I work hard at my business, including lots of extra hours. Besides, it's my lunch break right now.)

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

My work blocks it too but I can get into it still using this link...

http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?notifications

I know why this works. At least I know why it works for me. It's the question mark. Put a question mark at the end of any link and more often than not the link ends up working. For instance, to get into Facebook, all I need to do is type www.facebook.com/? and I can get in. There's some restrictions though as not all the images load, but meh, better than nothing

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Dion

http://www.anonymization.net/

heh.

The Websense category "Proxy Avoidance" is filtered.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Teh_Bandwagoner

I know why this works. At least I know why it works for me. It's the question mark. Put a question mark at the end of any link and more often than not the link ends up working. For instance, to get into Facebook, all I need to do is type www.facebook.com/? and I can get in. There's some restrictions though as not all the images load, but meh, better than nothing

Even ? doesn't work here. Still blocked.

[ken0042]

^^

Yeah, Websense is a little bit to robust to be fooled by adding a question mark.

[Bobblehead]

We use sonicwall, and it has some really weird rules.

You can go to ESPN.com, but you can't click on any stories - all the linked stories are blocked.

Same with Fark.com, except the redirects (go.fark.com) are bolocked, so removing that part of the URL lets you see the story.

All the CSS for Canada.com are blocked, so while you can go to the site you only see a big mess.

It is about a consistent as NHL suspensions.

[foofighter15]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I operate a small business and know people who spend (I'm guessing here but am probably not too far off) literally hours a day playing around on websites and wasting (stealing?) their employers' time. I'm not judging any of you because I don't know your situations, but consider this from the employer's point of view. My staff computers are not blocked because I know what they're used for but I do understand why some employers do block some website access.

Say an employer has 50 employees who spend an average of even 30 minutes on line per day on non-company stuff (Facebook, this site, etc.). At $40 an hour that's the lost-productivity cost is a quarter million a year. It's expensive, guys. Is it right?

(Yes, I did post this during the workday, but remember that I am the employer. I work hard at my business, including lots of extra hours. Besides, it's my lunch break right now.)

I can understand and respect your point. But to me its an issue of trust. I actually have something important to use facebook for at the moment and now cant.

Also employees need a rest everyonce and awhile. I know the longer I stare at my screen and see work the less productive I get. These kind of sites can be like a shot of espresso and get you going again.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by Ayrahb

What is the most effective way to block Facebook and Myspace?

I requested this from our IT guy a long time ago, but he hasn't done it yet. The students in our class spend way too much time on those sites and not enough on job searching and resume writing.

Depends on the budget. Easist way is to block the IP address and DNS name. But as indicated, with proxies and the like it can be much more difficult.

We have a few different sniffers on our external connection that checks network traffic by monitoring MAC network traffic, SurfControl for normal blocking, and a 3rd device checking IP's from countries on US and Canada watch lists.

Just remember, if you signed a terms of use contract and you contravene the obvious attempt to block you from facebook it is likely grounds for termination and they might be trying to trap you into doing something if they need a reason to fire you.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by foofighter15

I can understand and respect your point. But to me its an issue of trust. I actually have something important to use facebook for at the moment and now cant.

Also employees need a rest everyonce and awhile. I know the longer I stare at my screen and see work the less productive I get. These kind of sites can be like a shot of espresso and get you going again.

Yes, I agree. I mentioned that my staff don't have blocks on their computers. I trust them. However, I also know personally a fellow who spends his life on websites at work. I have no idea how he gets away with it. If he worked for me, damn right I'd block his computer from accessing certain sites. Same issue with children. My kids could use the computer freely because I trusted them. However, many parents install software to monitor their activity (spouses, for that matter).

And about your last point. Yes, maybe a quick check of this site rejuvenates you for the last couple hours of the afternoon, but what if that ends up killing the rest of the day?

[mykalberta]

Where I work we can monitor individ computers. However there was some ruling in the US where you cant monitor someone without cause and since we are a subsid we have to follow those types of rulings.

We have to be specifically asked before we monitor individ connections - then it normally takes no more than a week before that person is fired. I have been to a few termination lawsuits and at least in Canada the judge normally takes that into account but not the end all be all etc.

[foofighter15]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Yes, I agree. I mentioned that my staff don't have blocks on their computers. I trust them. However, I also know personally a fellow who spends his life on websites at work. I have no idea how he gets away with it. If he worked for me, damn right I'd block his computer from accessing certain sites. Same issue with children. My kids could use the computer freely because I trusted them. However, many parents install software to monitor their activity (spouses, for that matter).

And about your last point. Yes, maybe a quick check of this site rejuvenates you for the last couple hours of the afternoon, but what if that ends up killing the rest of the day?

Wasting away an afternoon on a website....I've never done that....
However, my boss has made it clear to us, we can answer our cells, and check our facebook and what not, just so long as our productivity doesn't go down.
This is one of the reasons i'm so surprised by the sudden Facebook blocking on our system.
The trust that the boss shows needs to be returned in respect from the employees.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

And about your last point. Yes, maybe a quick check of this site rejuvenates you for the last couple hours of the afternoon, but what if that ends up killing the rest of the day?

Rest of the Day, meet my friend CP.

[GoFlambe]

If you're a Linux geek, you can set up a transparent proxy by using iptables to forward all outgoing port 80 traffic on your gateway to a squid instance running on another port and set squid to block whatever sites you want.

SSH tunnel, VPN connection to home or proxy running on a different port on a remote machine are ways you can get around this. Doesn't necessarily mean your company's sysadmins aren't aware of what you're doing though. They might not be able to see what you're seeing, but they might be able to tell that you're going through a remote proxy, for example. Couldn't easily prove if you were looking at pr0n, however.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

I'm so busy at my new work I barely have time to eat lunch, nevermind check facebook lol.

[Incinerator]

FB's got nothing on CP, CP is my homepage!

[Dion]

Originally Posted by foofighter15

Wasting away an afternoon on a website....I've never done that....
However, my boss has made it clear to us, we can answer our cells, and check our facebook and what not, just so long as our productivity doesn't go down.
This is one of the reasons i'm so surprised by the sudden Facebook blocking on our system.
The trust that the boss shows needs to be returned in respect from the employees.

nm

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

FB's got nothing on CP, CP is my homepage!

I did that too. That is damn dangerous....

[guzzy]

Originally Posted by foofighter15

My work recently blocked Facebook on my computer, and my computer alone. I had pretty much stopped using it, but as I am taking this personally my initial reaction is to find away around it and win this battle of pettiness. Anyone know how?

My money would go on "if you were banned from using it you were probably abusing it". IT guys just don't ban sites from people who looked once or twice. My advice....get over it and get back to work.